


Equilibrium in Restoration

by jseca



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Father-Son Relationship, Fix-It, Gen, they both deserve some happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 21:32:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jseca/pseuds/jseca
Summary: Slowly, Peter Parker is pieced back together.





	Equilibrium in Restoration

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Infinity War. I need this to happen like, now ;;

He watched him come undone, and now he’s watching him re-assemble, the pieces slotting back together to form a whole.  It’s happening all around him, across the world, through the expanse of the universe, and it’s cause for mass celebration, elation, but this – this moment here is where his focus lies right now.  Equilibrium is in the process of restoration, sure, but Tony’s exhausted, bloodied, on the brink of collapse, dealing with death and destruction again and again and again; but at least there’s this.

Slowly, slowly, Peter Parker is pieced back together.

Tony doesn’t have much mental capacity left to think about it - what he really wants is some strong alcohol and a long, long nap, but for a moment, he lets himself feel relief as the kid reforms.  He’s still wearing the Iron Spider suit, still looking worn and broken down and knowing that he’s about to - -  but that doesn’t matter now, it’s fixed, they fixed it, they won, they turned the world back around.  His guard is let down, mental walls crumbled, so he lets himself think, for a moment, that _his_ kid is back, his ward, his protégé, his son.  Okay, so that’s not legal yet, but it could be, and it will be, even if it’ll take a while to actually tell Pete that.  He’ll go with it, Tony thinks, as the final few atoms slot into place. 

There’s no doubt in his mind that he will.

“… Mr. Stark?” Pete says disbelievingly, his voice wavering, eyes darting left right and centre as he tries to process what’s happening.  He moves like he’s learning how to all over again, slowly raising his arms and just _looking_ at himself in sheer disbelief, whole and not disintegrating.  “Is that you?” 

“Yeah,” Tony breathes, barely able to smile; he’s watching, waiting it out to see if they’ve got it right, that their victory isn’t just a temporary farce.

“We -,” Pete starts, blinking up at Tony, wonderment spreading across his face as he begins to understand.  “You won?”

Tony considers his answer for a short moment.  Sure, in a sense, they won.  The dead half of the universe has been restored, and wasn’t that what they were trying to stop in the first place?  It seems so long ago now.  The losses incurred along the road to victory, well.  It’s a bittersweet win, how about that. 

“Yeah, Pete.  We won,” he says, stepping forward.  He can tell him the details later, since right now he’s probably caught up in getting used to _being alive_ again.  Tony isn’t a religious man, not for a second, but he can’t help but wonder if Peter and the other trillions of people banished at a snap were aware of their deaths, had any awareness of the in-between.  A gap of months for Tony might be a split-second for Peter, but then again, maybe not.  .. A conversation for later, maybe.

Right now, in this moment, there are more important things to worry about.

“Oh, man, that’s awesome, that’s great,” Pete tries to smile, but honestly, he looks like he wants to collapse, and boy, does that bring back a memory Tony would rather be without.  He gets there before, this time, wrapping his arms around Pete – gently, because he’s pretty sure it’s all the kid can handle, but it’s not much more than _he_ has the energy for, either.  He’s wiped.  He’s mentally screaming.  But he can do this.

There’s no hesitation as Pete latches his arms around Tony in kind, clutching onto him like a lifeline, which, maybe not the best choice of words, actually – there’s a tiny part of him that can’t help but wait for Pete to fall out of his arms and blow away in the wind, but no, he’s here and he’s solid and he’s saved, and he’s going to make damn sure that that’s how things are going to stay.

“Don’t get used to this, kid,” Tony mutters, even as he folds his chin down onto Pete’s head.  This isn’t what he does, after all, this ‘affection’ and ‘loving’ shit, not really, but in this moment, he can let that slide.  

It’s what they both deserve.


End file.
